Fans, music keep Azalea Fest headliners Skynyrd going

Wednesday

Apr 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM

You'll not likely see Johnny Van Zant in a pair of sunshine-yellow pants with a matching jacket.

By Mike VoorheisMike.Voorheis@StarNewsOnline.com

You'll not likely see Johnny Van Zant in a pair of sunshine-yellow pants with a matching jacket. The bright palette of the Azalea Festival doesn't really complement the leather and denim favored by southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd.But that doesn't concern Van Zant. The lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Zant said he can fit in just about anywhere. So he and his band will make themselves at home in Wilmington for the first Azalea Festival 2013 headline concert on April 11 at Cape Fear Community College. The Avett Brothers will play April 12, and Colt Ford and the LACs will play April 13.The proper, genteel South and the rebellious, rowdy South will sway together to songs such as "Sweet Home Alabama," "Saturday Night Special" and "What's Your Name." And of course, there's the iconic rock anthem, "Free Bird" - the song that Skynyrd could stretch to 15 minutes during a 1970s stadium concert in front of thousands of screaming fans.Ronnie Van Zant used to ask the crowd, "What song is it that you want to hear?" In unison, the crowd would respond, "FREE BIRD!" Ronnie and two other band members were killed in a 1977 plane crash. The band reformed 10 years later, with little brother Johnny as lead singer. Now, it's Johnny's obligation to ask the crowd what they want to hear.The anthem is so entrenched in popular culture that whenever a random singer in a random bar asks for audience requests, someone invariably yells, "Free Bird!"Johnny Van Zant has done it himself."I did it at a freakin' Cher concert that my wife roped me into going to," Van Zant said during a phone interview last week. "I had to go down and watch Cher for an hour. Somewhere along the way, I yelled 'Free Bird!' "We will assume that she didn't sing it.Skynyrd is promoting its 2012 album, "Last of a Dyin' Breed" and preparing for a summer tour with Bad Company. The style of the new work hasn't changed much from the original tunes Skynyrd produced four decades ago."We always try to write songs about common people, common things. That's what's kept this great band around - the songs," Van Zant said.He said he's been asked why he doesn't write another "Free Bird." Fans might as well ask for another Mount Rushmore."We've tried to carry on what was started, but it's a real hard job," Van Zant said. "Not only are we competing with other bands, but we're competing with a legend that was already there."When Lynyrd Skynyrd was hitting the apex of its career, Johnny Van Zant, who was 11 years younger than Ronnie, was playing "some club on the north side of Jacksonville (Fla.)," he said.Today, he's asked to entertain those fans that grew up listening to Skynyrd. And their kids. And their grandchildren.A few weeks ago, he said, an "older lady" attended a concert with her daughter and son-in-law."She sang right along with me," Van Zant said. "Then you see little kids out there just singing the heck out of the songs and enjoying it. That's what keeps us going."The Lynyrd Skynyrd lineup from before the plane crash was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Their music survived the hiatus between the crash and the reformation of the group in 1987. It survived tragedies after the plane crash as well, including the paralysis of Allen Collins in 1986, Collins' death in 1990, the death of bassist Leon Wilkeson in 2001 and the death of keyboardist Billy Powell in 2009. Powell's death left guitarist Gary Rossington as the only full-time member of the original band that was still playing in the new configuration. (Guitarist Rickey Medlocke, who's been a full-time member of the band since 1996, briefly played with Skynyrd in 1970-71.)The band wasn't sure whether to continue making music as Lynyrd Skynyrd. Van Zant is not tech savvy, he said, but he did turn to the internet after Powell's death. The outpouring of love from fans left no doubt in his mind that Skynyrd should continue to rock. The conviction of their fans spawned the song "Skynyrd Nation," which was included on the "God & Guns" album later that year."They kept saying that Skynyrd Nation will go on," Van Zant said. "That helped us make up our mind whether we wanted to carry Lynyrd Skynyrd on."He believes the band's legacy will carry on long after Johnny Van Zant steps away from the mic."Skynyrd's faced lots of ups and downs and tragedies, but the music still lives on," he said. "When myself and Gary Rossington and Rickey Medlocke are gone, Skynyrd's music will still be around."Mike Voorheis: 343-2205